Differentiating Character Voices

[T.Allen.Smith]

One of the things I'm working on is writing characters with distinct voices within the same story. Obviously, not all characters can have unique voices, but the main players can, and I've been told by review partners that my characters often sound the same. That's not surprising, since I'm drafting their dialogue at the same time and they're all born from the same head. Even with action tags preceding, or even bracketing dialogue, readers can sometimes get confused on who is speaking or thinking.

Distinct voices for the main players in a story can not only alleviate this, it can help make the characters feel more real, and offer extra layers of characterization. As a beginning of this effort, I started compiling a list of ways to make character voices distinct & thought some of you might also find it useful. Please comment if you can think of additional techniques. I'll update this list as we move forward.

Methods of Differentiating Character Dialogue
1. Regional or cultural dialect – in small doses.
2. Vary sentence patterns. One character may use short sentences. Another may use long, or convoluted, sentences.
3. What characters notice in their surrounding (or not notice).
4. Word selection. (i.e. Educated characters might speak with large words)
5. Verbal tics & catchphrases
6. Malapropisms.
7. Force or passivity of speech.
8. How a character greets another character.
9. A character uses nicknames. (i.e. “Sure thing, Chief”)
10. Characters may speak with metaphors & similes that match their background.
11. Contraction use (or lack of contraction use)
12. Character temperament. (Do they order people around? Do they question everything? Confident or hesitant?)
13. Character outlook (Do they see the glass as half empty or half full?)
14. Incorrect grammar & structure of dialogue sentences (Think Yoda speaking).

 

[Feo Takahari]

#3 goes a surprisingly long way. Even two characters with similar vocabularies and sentence structures feel different if they put emphasis on different elements of the same situation. (Take Digger, for instance--Digger and Murai talk similarly; Murai is just a bit more formal. But while Murai is horrified by the grotesque device that's forcing a dead god's heart to keep beating, Digger is more concerned with inefficiencies in the pulley system.)

To build on #7, it's worth considering characters' most frequent emotions, typical energy levels, and other factors that affect how they present themselves. A hyperactive character will speak differently from a depressed one.

Also consider just how different various characters really need to be from each other. I usually give siblings similar speech patterns, while characters who're from different countries might speak very differently.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

...it's worth considering characters' most frequent emotions, typical energy levels, and other factors that affect how they present themselves. A hyperactive character will speak differently from a depressed one.

Yes. I think this also falls in line with #2, length of dialogue sentences. Excited people may talk in faster, shorter sentences.

Also consider just how different various characters really need to be from each other. I usually give siblings similar speech patterns, while characters who're from different countries might speak very differently.

A good point. Even outside of siblings and other relatives, I think it's okay to have some characters sound alike, especially tertiary characters. I've read that most authors only develop a handful of distinct character voices & those voices carry them throughout their careers.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I had to look up malapropisms as I wasn't familiar with the word.

A malapropism (also called a Dogberryism or Cramtonism) is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound (which is often a paronym), resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance.

I can see how this is something that would serve to characterize a character, but I think it would be really tricky to use. How do you get it through to the reader that it's the character using the wrong word, and not you as the writer? - Or am I misunderstanding the word/intent?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

No... You have it right.

One way would be to have another character correct the offender. You'd also need to show the offending character either does this unintentionally & as normal, consistent behavior, or they may use words incorrectly yet intentionally, for humors sake.

The most famous example of the latter I can think of is Yogi Berra, but I'm not sure if that example will translate outside the U.S.

 

[Svrtnsse]

It's an interesting topic though.

My main worry at the moment is that my current MC sounds too much like my MC from my last WIP. I've tried to give her a different personality of her own, and I think it's coming through in her thoughts and actions, but I'm still concerned my two MCs are too similar.
My guess would be that as long as the character feels distinct and real, then it doesn't matter too much if her manner of speech is similar to the other MC of the other novel. The readers will get the whole package, just not the lines, and that should help.

 

[skip.knox]

Grammar. Like malapropisms, but it happens at the structure level. Misplace an adjective, or like Yoda they could talk. Like dialect, one would have to be careful not to overuse.

Contractions. I'm doing this with a current story. Two principal characters. I'm careful to have one never use a contraction while the other uses them whenever it feels natural for casual speech.

I've also seen stuttering used. Annoying when it's a main character, but it could work for a secondary character.

A more interesting challenge is trying to find racial tics--to find a way to differentiate between how, say, gnomes speak versus elves versus humans--while not preempting any tools for differentiating within a race. Alas that we cannot simply assume all our readers are multilingual! I've always been interested in how one might manage a drawl in, say, French. Or to show a bumpkin or a pedant.

 

[BWFoster78]

I'm not sure if any of these are covered in your already-stated guidelines or not:

Temperment - Do they order people around? Do they question everything? Confident or hesitant?

Outlook - Do they see the glass as half empty or half full?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Just an FYI.... I'll update the list with new additions each night. My mobile jacks up the edits, making them difficult.

 

[Creed]

I'd recommend looking at some of the rhetorical devices for this exercise. A bunch of them aren't really fit for points on the list but as tools to work with the list. For example, polysyndeton can be used to really speed up a character's dialogue and convey a certain anxiety.

Parenthesis could be used for a similar situation. Is the character constantly making asides and losing focus? (Though this could be just as tiresome to read as stuttering for a main character (and could also communicate anxiousness or nervousness)).

Hyperbole vs litotes? How does this character describe the world around them or reference events/people/numbers of things? I can imagine a quirky duo where one always exaggerates and the other corrects them with an understatement or more realistic figure. Could be wrapped up with temperament.

Periphrasis is a lesser known one that could go quite well with (EDIT) a lack of contractions. It's basically long-speech. Can be as simple as "I am going to" vs "I will" or much more convoluted and fun!

There are obviously lots of these tools so I'd recommend for anyone to go to a site like Literary Devices for a more thorough list. Though some of them are less likely to be cut out this sort of task. I can imagine a madman or some immortal being speaking in alliteration, and chiasmus would be outright brilliant (if incredibly difficult to write).

Great list so far!

 

[Trick]

I'd add Interruptions, or allowing others to interrupt, though it could possibly be categorized within one of the things already covered. There are various reasons someone might interrupt another speaker but if it is a repetitive action/habit it might denote self-importance or lack of respect for another/others. If one allows others to interrupt regularly it might imply that they are a bit of a doormat and others unconsciously pick up on things like that, leading to more and more interruptions.

Also, a self-important person will start many sentences with 'I' or bring conversations back to focus on them while, on the opposite end of the spectrum, those with low opinions of themselves tend to keep the focus off of themselves and begin more sentences with 'you.'